Corner construction



May 24, 1938. FINKE 2,118,598

CORNER CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 14, 1938 INVENTOR H. FINKE ATTORNEY Patented May 24, 1938 aliases UNITED A sr r s PArEjsr oFF cE Herman Finke, St. Louis," Mo. I

Application February 14, 1938, Serial No. 190,364

6 Claims.

:This invention relates generally to corner constructions for walls, floors, ceilings, etc., formed of plaster, cement, concrete, and like materials which harden after application in plastic form,

and more specifically to improved means for preventing cracks, which frequently form in such structures due to shrinkage of the materials of which the structures are formed, sagging of parts of the, structures, and for other reasons, the predominant object of the invention being to provide very simple and inexpensive means of this type which in use serves to produce an elongated opening in the material of an angular structure in the corner of such angular structure, thus eliminating formation of irregular cracks on the surfaces of the angular structure and causing the elongated opening to appear where it may be conveniently repaired.

- As is quite generally known the appearance of 2 walls, ceilings, and floors of buildings, which are formed of plaster and other materials that harden after being applied in plastic form, are frequently marred by formation therein of irregular cracks.

Such cracks usually being the result of shrinkage of materials of the structures, or sagging or settling of portions of the structures. It is the generally accepted theory that cracking in such structures occurs because adjacent angularly re lated portionsof walls,-or adjacent portions of walls and ceilings, or walls and floors, are integrally and rigidly connected together so that there is no opportunity for relative movement between these structure portions. The result of this situation is that when shrinkage, sagging or settling occurs the non-yielding nature of the structures causes the Walls, ceiling, or floor to crack and such cracks are usually of such long irregular formation as to completely destroy the appearance of the wall, ceiling, or floor.

The main purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the formation of the undesired irregular cracks in walls, ceilings, and floors, and this purpose is accomplished by arranging in the corners between portions of walls, or be- 45 tween portions of walls and portions of ceilings, or portions of walls and portions of floors, pairs of coacting elements which extend throughout the lengths of said corners. These pairs of elements are so assembled and employed that when the structures with which they are associated are subjected to strains due to shrinkage, sagging, or settling, said coacting pairs of elements will separate slightly with the result that straight line openings will occur in the exact corners of the fig -structures where said openings will extend longitudinally of said corners. The production of the openings in' the corners of the structures as described relieves the structures of the strains which heretofore caused irregular cracks to be formed in such structures and as a result no such irregular cracks are produced in the structures. When the strains in the structures'due to shrinkage, sagging, or settling have disappeared the openings formed in the corners of the structures maybe conveniently repaired so that the surfaces of the walls, ceilings, or floors present unbroken and uncracked appearances.

Fig. l is an elevation of one ofthe corner elements of the invention, a portion thereof being broken away so that the element might be illustrated on a larger scale.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the corner portion of a wall showing the invention in use.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of a portion of one of the elements of the invention 20 showing same as it appears before it has received its final shaping operation.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on line 5,5 of Fig. 4. I

In the drawing, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration, merely, one embodiment of the invention, I and 2 designate a pair of corner elements of which the present invention is comprised (Fig. 2).- The corner elements comprise main portions 3 and 4 and extended from the main portions of said elements at sides thereof are extensions 5 and 6. The elements I and 2 are of elongated formation, said elements extending longitudinally throughout the lengths of the corners of the angular structures with which said elements are associated and the main portions and extensions of said elements being of corresponding lengths as shown in Fig. 1. The extensions of the elements I and 2 areformed by bending the sheet of material of which an element is formed on a line extended longitudinally of the sheet of material, this line being designated by the dot and dash line a. in Fig. 3. When the elements I and 2 are to be employed in association with a right angle corner as shown in Fig. 2 the extensions 5 and 6 of the elements are disposed at an angle of approximately with re spect to the main portions ofthe elements so that they may be disposed'in parallel relation with respect to each other as isalso shown in Fig. 2.

In order to brace the extensions of the elements I and 2 so'that theymay not be displaced inwardly with relation to the main portions of the elements, each element has formed therein a plurality of inverted V-shaped slits l which are spaced longitudinally of the main portion of the element. The portions of material within these inverted V-shaped slits are displaced outwardly from the main portion of the element to horizontal positions, such portions of material bei bent on lines which join the lower ends of the inverted V-shaped slits, one of which is indicated by the dot and dash line b in Fig. 3. The inverted V-shaped slits of each corner element are so positioned that an end of each slit is located at the line a on which the element is bent to form the extension thereof, and when the portions of material within the inverted V-shaped slits are bent to their horizontal positions triangular-shaped bracing members are provided, with edges of which the associated extensions contact (see Fig. 4).

So as to provide for keying plaster or like material to the corner elements I and 2 the main portion of each of said corner elements is provided with a plurality of horizontal straightlineslits 8 spaced longitudinally of the element. The material of the main portion of each element is bent outwardly at a side of each of the slits 8 to provide louver-like lips 9, such bending of the material of the main portions of the elements providing openings through which portions of plaster or like material may extend for keying purposes.

In Fig. 2 the invention is shown in use and in this view A designates the upright studs of a building and B designates laths secured to said studs. I'he corner construction illustrated in Fig. 2 is made up 01 a pair of walls arranged at a right angle with respect to each other and the corner element I is associated with one of said walls while the element 2 is associated with the other wall. It is to be noted that the corner ele- 'ments I and 2 are secured to the walls with which they are associated, for instance, by means of nails III which extend through openings II formed in the elements and into the laths and studs the walls, the elements I and 2 being so positioned when they are secured in place that the extensions 5 and 6 thereof are extended in parallelism with respect to each other. When the elements I and 2 have been secured in place as described the plaster I2 or other material is applied to the wall in the usual manner and the corner I2 of the finished wall is located at the vertical line at the forward edges of the extensions 5 and 6 of the elements I and 2 where the extensions contact with each other.

In the use of the improved corner construction disclosed herein, shrinkage of the materials making up the wall portions will cause the extensions 5 and 6 to draw away from each other slightly and such movement will relieve the strains which heretofore caused walls and ceilings to crack. In like manner, if one wall portion of an angular corner structure should sag or settle the corner element associated with the sagging or settling wall portion may move vertically with respect to the corner element of the associated wall portion and thereby prevent the cracking which usually follows sagging or settling of a wall portion. When relative movement between the elements I and 2 takes place a slight opening in the wall structure is produced in the precise corner of the angular wall structure and when the strains in the wall portions which caused relative movement of the elements I and 2 no longer exist, the opening in the corner of the angular wall portion may be very conveniently repaired to provide the wall structure with an unbroken surface.

I claim:

1. A corner construction for walls, floors, and ceilings formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of wholly independent elements arranged at an angle with respect to each other and provided with portions which extend longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said portions of said elements will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner.

2. A corner construction for walls, floors, and. ceilings formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of wholly independent elements formed of sheet material arranged at an angle with respect to each other, said elements being provided with extensions which project at an angle relative to the main portions of said elements and the extensions of the elements being extended longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said extensions of the elements will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner.

3. A corner construction for walls, floors, and ceilings formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of wholly independent elements arranged at an angle with respect to each other, said elements being provided with extensions which project at an angle relative to the main portions of said elements and the extensions of the elements being extended longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said extensions of the elements will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner, and bracing means for bracing said extensions of said elements in a manner to prevent displacement thereof.

4. A corner construction for walls, floors, and ceilings formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of wholly independent elements formed of sheet material arranged at an angle with respect to each other, said elements being provided with extensions which project at an angle relative to the main portions of said elements and the extensions of the elements being extended longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said extensions of the element will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner,

iii)

and bracing means for bracing said extensions of said elements, said bracing means comprising portions of material displaced from the main portions of the elements and arranged in contact with extensions of said elements.

5. A corner construction for wall, floors, and ceilings formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of Wholly independent elements formed of sheet material arrangement at an angle with respect to each other, said elements being provided with extensions which project at an angle relative to the main portions of said elements and the extensions of the element being extended longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said extensions of the element will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner, and bracing means for bracing said extensions of said elements, said bracing means comprising portions of material displaced from the main portions of the elements and arranged in contact with extensions of said elements, said elements being provided with openings formed therein whereby the material of the angular structure with which the elements are associated may be keyed to said elements.

6. A corner construction for walls, floors, and ceilings 'formed of material which hardens after its application in plastic form, comprising a pair of wholly independent elements formed of sheet material arranged at an angle with respect to each other, said elements being provided with extensions which project at an angle relative to the main portions of said elements and the extensions of the element being extended longitudinally of a corner of an angular structure with which the elements are associated in substantial parallelism relative to each other, said elements being secured to the angular structure of which the corner forms a part at opposite sides of said corner so that said extensions of the element will move toward and from each other upon relative movement of the portions of the angular structure at opposite sides of the corner, and bracing means for bracing said extensions of said elements, said bracing means comprising portions of material displaced from the main portions of the elements and arranged in contact with extensions of said elements, said elements being provided with openings formed therein whereby the material of the angular structure with which the elements are associated may be keyed to said elements, said openings being elongated and the material of the elements being bent to provide outwardly extended lips adjacent to said openings.

HERMAN FIN'KE. 

